Method and arrangement in a wireless communications system

ABSTRACT

A method for assisting the adaptation of a signal from a first node to a second node is provided. The first node communicates with the second node in a wireless communication system over a radio link. The second node has a codebook comprising a set of possible information alternatives for assisting the adaptation of a signal received from the first node. The second node may select an information alternative from the codebook and send it to the first node to assist the first node in adapting the signal. The first node is configured with a number of subsets, each comprising a part of the possible information alternatives. The first node requests that the second node restrict the selection of information alternatives to one of the subsets, and in response, receives an information alternative from the second node that is selected from among the subsets configured according to the configuration request.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/275,699, filed on 12 May 2014, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/522,851, which was filed on 10 Jul. 2009 and isissued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,724,543, which is the National Stage ofInternational Application No. PCT/SE2007/050754, filed Oct. 18, 2007,which in turn claims priority from foreign application no. SE 0700062-3,filed Jan. 12, 2007. Each of the '851, '754, and '62-3 applications areexpressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a method and an arrangementin a first node in a wireless communications system and a method and anarrangement in a second node in the wireless communications system. Inparticular it relates to codebook subset restriction used for assistingthe first node in adapting a signal to be sent from the first node tothe second node over the radio link.

BACKGROUND

The use of multiple antennas at a transmitter and/or a receiver of anode in a wireless communication system can significantly boost thecapacity and coverage of the wireless communication system. SuchMultiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems exploit the spatialdimension of the communication channel to improve performance by forexample transmitting several parallel information carrying signals. Byadapting the transmission to the current channel conditions, significantadditional gains can be achieved. One form of adaptation is todynamically, from one Transmission Time Interval (TTI) to another,adjust the number of simultaneously transmitted information carryingsignals to what the channel can support. This is commonly referred to as(transmission) rank adaptation. Precoding is another form of adaptationwhere the phases and amplitudes of the aforementioned signals areadjusted to better fit the current channel properties. The signals forma vector-valued signal and the adjustment can be thought of asmultiplication by a precoder matrix. A common approach is to select theprecoder matrix from a finite and countable set, a so-called codebook.Such codebook based precoding is an integral part of the Long TermEvolution LTE standard and will be supported in MIMO for High SpeedDownlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access(WCDMA) as well.

Codebook based precoding is a form of channel quantization. A typicalapproach (c.f. LTE and MIMO HSDPA) is to let the receiver recommend asuitable precoder matrix to the transmitter by signalling the precoderindex over a feedback link. The transmitter may choose to directly usethe receiver's recommendation, without modification, or to override thereceiver's recommendation so signalling the precoder index actually usedin the transmission to the receiver may also be needed. To limitsignalling overhead, it is generally important to keep the codebook sizeas small as possible. This however needs to be balanced against theperformance impact since with a larger codebook it is possible to bettermatch the current channel conditions.

The design of precoding codebooks and transmission rank adaptationpossibilities are a compromise in order to cover a multitude ofscenarios. Thus, in certain scenarios, not all combinations of codebookelement and transmission rank are beneficial to use. Still, since inpractice the adaptation process is non-ideal such ill-suitedcombinations might be erroneously chosen and thus hurt performance invarious ways. The risk for such errors may increase with codebook sizeand transmission rank possibilities.

The use of adaptation by means of precoding and rank adaptationtypically introduces variations in the spatial properties of thetransmitted signals. In cellular systems like LTE and WCDMA this canlead to bursty interference which in turn makes link adaptation as wellas scheduling more challenging. This issue tends to be more problematicwhen the number of adaptation combinations is large than when it issmall. Letting the receiver select among many different adaptationpossibilities means that each possible transmission mode needs to beevaluated in order to find the optimum. This may however involvesubstantial computational complexity at the receiver and possibly alsoat the transmitter.

In LTE and WCDMA, a user equipment (UE) selects a recommended precoderand transmission rank and informs the base station, via a feedbackchannel, about which element in the codebook was selected. ChannelQuality Indicators (CQIs) are also fed back conditioned on a certainchoice of rank and precoder. The base station may choose to follow theuser equipment recommendation or to override it. The problem with thelatter is that it increases the CQI errors since the CQIs are computedassuming the use of the recommended precoder and rank. Thus utilizing alarger than necessary codebook and then overriding the user equipmentrecommendations to limit the transmission freedom, and/or correcterroneous UE selection is not an attractive approach. Using a smallcodebook and possibly limited rank adaptation with associated reducedsignalling overhead is an obvious way of limiting the adaptationpossibilities and thus alleviate the above mentioned problems. Theproblem is that such an approach may create a need for an unnecessarilylarge number of different codebooks and signalling schemes and thatmight be highly undesirable from a standard point of view (e.g.,complicate performance testing, increase the number of options in thesystem).

SUMMARY

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide amechanism for improving the performance of a radio access network.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, the object isachieved by a method in a first node for assisting the adaptation of asignal to be sent from the first node to a second node in a wirelesscommunication system, the first node being capable of communicating withthe second node over a radio link. The second node is configured tocomprise a codebook, which codebook comprises a set of possibleinformation alternatives used for assisting the adaptation of a signalto be sent from the first node to the second node over the radio link.The second node is arranged to select an information alternative fromthe codebook, which selected information alternative is intended be sentto the first node to assist the first node in how to adapt the signal.The first node knows a number of subsets, each subset comprising a partof or the complete codebook. The method comprises the step of sending amessage to the second node. The message comprises a configurationrequest to the second node to restrict the selection of informationalternatives to at least one of the subsets. The method comprises thefurther step of receiving an information alternative from the secondnode. The information alternative is selected among the at least onesubsets configured according to the configuration request Theinformation alternative is conveyed from the second node to the firstnode by means of a specific signalling format, which specific format ispossible to be reused for receiving an information alternative selectedfrom at least one other subset.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the object isachieved by method in a second node for assisting a first node in theadaptation of a signal to be sent from a first node to the second nodein a wireless communication system. The second node is capable ofcommunicating with the first node over a radio link. The second node isconfigured to comprise a codebook, which codebook comprises a set ofpossible information alternatives used for assisting the adaptation of asignal to be sent from the first node to the second node over the radiolink. The second node is arranged to select an information alternativefrom the codebook, which selected information alternative is intended tobe sent to the first node to assist the first node how to adapt thesignal. The first node knows a number of subsets, each subset comprisinga part of or the complete codebook. The method comprises the step ofreceiving a message from the first node. The message comprises aconfiguration request to restrict the selection of informationalternatives to at least one of the subsets. The method furthercomprises the steps of configuring the selection according to thereceived configuration request, and selecting an information alternativeamong the configured at least one subsets. The method comprises thefurther step of sending the selected information alternative to thefirst node, which information alternative is conveyed from the secondnode to the first node by using a specific signalling format. Thespecific signalling format is possible to be reused for sending aninformation alternative selected from at least one other subset.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the object isachieved by an arrangement in first node in a wireless communicationsystem. The first node is arranged to communicate with a second node inthe wireless communication system over a radio link. The second node isconfigured to comprise a codebook, which codebook comprises a set ofpossible information alternatives used for assisting the adaptation of asignal to be sent from the first node to the second node over the radiolink. The second node is arranged to select an information alternativefrom the codebook. The selected information alternative is intended tobe sent to the first node to assist the first node how to adapt thesignal. The first node is arranged to know a number of subsets, eachsubset comprising a part of or the complete codebook. The first nodearrangement comprises a sending unit arranged to send a message to thesecond node. The message comprises a configuration request to the secondnode to restrict the selection of information alternatives to at leastone of the subsets. The first node arrangement further comprises areceiving unit arranged to receive an information alternative from thesecond node. The information alternative is arranged to be selected bythe second node among the at least one subsets configured according tothe configuration request. The information alternative is arranged to beconveyed from the second node to the first node by means of a specificsignalling format. The specific signalling format is possible to bereused for receiving an information alternative selected from at leastone other subset.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the object isachieved by an arrangement in a second node in a wireless communicationsystem. The second node is arranged to communicate with a first node inthe wireless communication system over a radio link. The second node isconfigured to comprise a codebook, which codebook comprises a set ofpossible information alternatives used for assisting the adaptation of asignal to be sent from the first node to the second node over the radiolink. The second node is arranged to select an information alternativefrom the codebook. The selected information alternative is intended tobe sent to the first node to assist the first node how to adapt thesignal. The first node is arranged to know a number of subsets, eachsubset comprising a part of or the complete codebook. The second nodearrangement comprises a receiving unit arranged to receive a messagefrom the first node. The message comprises a configuration request torestrict the selection of information alternatives to at least one ofthe subsets. The second node arrangement further comprises aconfiguration unit arranged to configure the selection according to thereceived configuration request and a selection unit arranged to selectan information alternative among the configured at least one subsets.The second node arrangement further comprises a sending unit arranged tosend the selected information alternative to the first node. Theinformation alternative is arranged to be conveyed from the second nodeto the first node by using a specific signalling format. The specificsignalling format is arranged to be reused for sending an informationalternative selected from at least one other subset.

Adaptation restriction according to the present solution can help increating more stationary interference, when e.g. the set of informationalternatives correspond to a codebook of precoders and transmissionranks, since the time-variations of the transmission propertiesdecrease. This can be beneficial since it may help in reducingburstiness of e.g. inter-cell interference. Such burstiness makes linkadaptation and scheduling difficult and can thus be detrimental toperformance.

A further advantage related to the previous one is that if the schedulerin the first node discovers that the adaptation information signaledfrom a second node is not trustworthy, it can limit the number ofinformation alternatives to a smaller subset and thereby restrict theadaptation possibilities to improve the accuracy. This is for examplethe case when a codebook of precoders and transmission ranks is used.Since the CQI reporting is intimately tied to the precoder and rankselection in the second node, this provides a way for the first node toavoid overriding the second node's recommendations and thus keep the CQIand the adaptation choice in sync.

Some adaptation schemes are designed under ideal assumptions. If thoseassumptions are not met in some practical scenarios, then it may bebeneficial to introduce an adaptation restriction according to thepresent solution. This is e.g. illustrated by the precoding and rankadaptation scheme in MIMO for HSDPA where for rank one transmissionthere are four different precoding vector/matrices. Limiting the numberof precoding choices even further can for example facilitate modelingintra-cell interference and thus may improve decoding as well as CQIestimation performance.

Flexibility and efficient support for future antenna array setups inconjunction with precoder and transmission rank adaptation is yetanother example of where codebook subset restriction as in the presentsolution may be beneficial. Some precoder elements may lead toundesirable transmission properties when combined with certain arraysetups. Resulting beam patterns may for example distribute thetransmitted energy in directions which create interference to otherusers, making inter-cell interference coordination techniques moredifficult.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments of awireless communication system.

FIG. 2 is a combined flowchart and signalling diagram illustratingexchange of signals in an embodiment of a wireless communication system.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating embodiments of a method in a firstnode.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an embodiment of afirst node arrangement.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating embodiments of a method in a secondnode.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an embodiment of asecond node arrangement.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is defined as a method and an arrangement which may be putinto practice in the embodiments described below.

FIG. 1 depicts a first node 100 in a wireless communication system 110.The wireless communication system 110 may be a cellular system and/or asystem such as e.g. Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved-UniversalTerrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA),Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, Ultra MobileWideband (UMB) or any other wireless communication system usingtechnologies that perform adaptation between different forms oftransmission. The first node 100 is capable of communicating with asecond node 120 in the wireless communication system 110 over a radiolink 130. The first node 100 may be any type of a base station such ase.g. a NodeB as in LTE. The second node 120 may be a user equipment (UE)such as e.g. a mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). It mayalso be the other way around, that the first node 100 may be a UE suchas e.g. a mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and thesecond node 120 may be any type of a base station such as e.g. a NodeB.In the example of FIG. 1, the first node 100 is a base station and thesecond node 120 is a user equipment. In addition, the first node 100 andthe second node 120 may constitute arbitrary wireless devices incommunication with each other and with no particular hierarchicalordering.

The first node 100 and the second node 120 may use multiple antennas atits respective transmitter and/or receiver such as is the case e.g. aMIMO system.

The second node 120 is configured to comprise a codebook, which codebookcomprises a set of possible information alternatives to be used forassisting the adaptation of a signal to be sent from the first node 100to the second node 120 over the radio link 130. The codebook may e.g.comprise precoder matrices, transmission ranks, modulation choices,transport block sizes, powers and/or channelization codes etc., orcombinations thereof. In some embodiments the codebook comprises one orseveral precoders and one or several transmission ranks while in someembodiments the codebook comprises only precoders. A codebook maycontain one or several precoder matrices, also each implicitlydescribing transmission rank. A particular precoder matrix maycorrespond to one information alternative. In general, the codebookcomprises a countable set of elements, where each element may affect theadaptation. One way of affecting the adaptation is to let the first node100 adjusts its transmission parameters exactly as specified by theinformation alternative. Another approach would be to perform some kindof processing of the information alternatives, e.g. filtering, and usethe result in adjusting the transmission parameters. The second node 120may select an information alternative from the codebook. In general oneinformation alternative is selected, but also more informationalternatives may be selected in combination, but this may be thought ofas using a larger codebook where combinations of informationalternatives from the smaller codebook together form separate codebookelements. The selected information alternative is then to be reported,i.e. sent to the first node 100 and is intended to assist the first node100 in how to adapt a signal to be sent from the first node 100 to thesecond node 120.

The first node 100 knows a number of subsets, each subset comprising apart of or the complete codebook. To improve the performance and supportadditional flexibility, the present solution provides a possibility torestrict selection of information alternative in second node 120 to asubset of the set of all possible information alternatives, e.g. torestricting adaptation to only a subset of all precoder matrix and rankcombinations even though codebook size and signalling support istailored for a larger set of combinations. The different subsets may bedesigned in many different ways. For example, a subset may based onsystem simulations be designed to match certain channel scenarios anddeployments of wireless devices so that performance is optimized.Alternatively, the first node 100 may study the information alternativesobtained from the second node 120 and restrict the selection to a subsetwhen it deems the second node 120 to perform selection of informationalternative in an unreliable manner. Detecting such unreliable behaviouris simplified in situations where the first node 100 can be relativelysure that the reporting of selected information alternatives fluctuatestoo rapidly, such as e.g. in scenarios with closely spaced antennas andsmall angular spread at first node 100, meaning reported precoder shouldchange relatively slowly as it is supposed to match the wirelesschannel's correlation properties, which tend to be of long-term nature.

As an illustrative example, a simple precoder codebook for a 2×2 MIMOsystem is depicted in Table 1. The notation NxM means N antennas at thefirst node 100 and M antennas at the second node 120. As seen, there areseparate precoder elements for the two possible transmission ranks (TxRank). Transmission rank here corresponds to the number of uncorrelatedsymbol streams the transmission from first node 100 to the second node120 is using. Codebook structures roughly similar to those displayed arepart of MIMO for HSDPA in WCDMA and may also be used in LTE. Based onmeasurements of the channel properties at the second node 120, thetransmission rank and precoder element are selected. Since the channelproperties are time-varying in a typical scenario with some mobility,the transmission characteristics may vary at the same rate. In MIMOHSDPA or in LTE, this may be on the order of once per TTI i.e. 2 ms inthe former and 1 ms in the latter.

TABLE 1 Tx Rank Codebook per Rank 1 $\begin{bmatrix}1 \\0\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}0 \\1\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}1 \\{\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi\;{k/4}} \right)}\end{bmatrix},{k = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},3$ 2 $\begin{bmatrix}1 & 0 \\0 & 1\end{bmatrix}\quad$

Even though the first node 100 may adapt the transmission according toall the different combinations of precoder and rank, a furtherrestriction of the second node's 120 selection of precoder matrix andtransmission rank is provided according to the present solution. Anexample of a possible subset is to only allow the transmitter and thereceiver to use the single element for transmission rank two in Table 1.This would serve to stabilize the transmission properties sinceotherwise the use of the rank one element may create fast fluctuationsof the spatial properties of the transmission which in turn mayintroduce interference predictability problems for other co-channelusers of the wireless propagation medium and in the end hurt theirperformance. In a typical cellular system, the fluctuating interferencewould correspond to inter-cell interference while the sufferingco-channel users would correspond to the use of a link in the own cell.

An advantage of the present solution is for scenarios in which thechannel has certain long-term properties that are in line with a subsetof the adaptation possibilities. In such situations, the number oferroneous decisions in the adaptation selection can potentially bereduced if the selection is only among elements which are appropriatefor these long-term properties. Again taking Table 1 as an example, thiscodebook is primarily intended for a setup in which both the transmitterin the first node 100 and the receiver in the second node 120 areequipped with spatially separated antennas. However, by restricting theadaptation to the first two rank-one elements (the two unit vectors) andthe single rank two elements, the adaptation becomes specificallytailored for a different antenna setup with cross-polarized antennas atboth sides of the link. Such a restriction can be done without affectingthe other parts of the control signaling required to support theadaptation. This is a distinct advantage since it often is non-trivialto add or change a control signaling scheme in a standard but use asubset of the adaptation possibilities is easier.

The restriction of the selection of information alternatives to at leastone of the subsets according to the present solution must not beconfused with the conventional way of restricting the number ofinformation alternatives. In the latter approach, the signalling formatused for conveying the selected information alternative from the secondnode 120 to first node 100 is tailored to the reduced set of informationalternatives, effectively creating a new codebook with associatedsignalling. The present invention restricts the selection process in thesecond node 120 without affecting the signalling format, thus allowingthe same signalling format to be reused for several different subsets.

To support the codebook subset restriction, the selected subset mustsomehow be signalled so that both the first node 100 and the second node120 agree on the exact properties of the restriction. In LTE or in MIMOHSDPA this may for example be accomplished using higher layer signallingprocedures, e.g. Radio Resource Control (RRC) or Medium Access Control(MAC) element, or possibly be signalled on some broadcast controlchannel. The first node 100 would then determine on what kind ofrestriction to use. The overhead incurred by the needed signalling istypically negligible since it should be sufficient to update theadaptation restriction on a very slow basis. FIG. 2 illustrates acombined flowchart and signalling scheme of some embodiments accordingto the present solution.

-   201. The first node 100 knows a number of subsets of information    alternatives, which potentially may be all different subsets of a    codebook. The first node 100 determines which at least one subset    from the number of subsets to request the second node 120 to    restrict to. Which subset to be determined may be based on    deployment scenario and/or reliability analysis in the first node    100 of the second node 120 reporting to the first node 100. It may    also be determined by a search for the “best” subset by trying    different ones and selecting the one which maximizes a performance    metric, e.g. system throughput.-   202. The first node 100 sends a message to the second node 120. The    message comprises a configuration request to restrict the selection    of information alternatives to at least one of the subsets    determined under step 201. The configuration request may e.g.    comprise a bit map where each bit represents a certain information    alternative and where a bit value of one would mean include in    subset and a bit value of zero would mean exclude in subset.-   203. The second node 120 performs the configuration according to the    received configuration request.-   204. The second node 120 then selects an information alternative    among the configured at least one subsets. In the case of a codebook    containing precoders and transmission rank, an element may be    selected that optimizes some performance metric, e.g. predicted link    throughput.-   205. The second node 120 sends the selected information alternative    to the first node 100. This is performed by sending the information    alternative using a specific signalling format. The signalling    format may typically involve certain bits that include signalling of    the information alternative. The specific signalling format is    possible to be reused for sending an information alternative    selected from at least one other subset. Typically, several subsets    can reuse the same signalling format. Such reuse is a distinct    advantage since it reduces the number of different signalling    formats that need to be designed, implemented and tested.

The method steps in the first node 100 for assisting the adaptation of asignal to be sent from the first node 100 to the second node 120 in thewireless communication system 110, according to some embodiments willnow be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in FIG. 3. Thefirst node 100 is capable of communicating with the second node 120 overa radio link. The second node 120 is configured to comprise a codebookused for assisting the adaptation of a signal to be sent from the firstnode 100 to the second node 120 over the radio link. The codebook maycomprise precoder matrices, transmission ranks, modulation choices,transport block sizes, powers and/or channelization codes. In someembodiments the codebook comprises one or several precoders, orcomprises one or several precoders and one or several transmissionranks, or combinations thereof. The second node 120 is arranged toselect an information alternative from the codebook, which selectedinformation alternative is intended to be sent to the first node 100 toassist the first node 100 how to adapt the signal. The first node 100knows a number of subsets, each subset comprising a part of or thecomplete codebook. In some embodiments the first node 100 is a basestation and in some embodiments the first node 100 is a user equipment.

The method comprises the steps of:

-   301. The first node 100 may determine which at least one subset of    the number of subsets, to request the second node 120 to restrict    to. This may be performed based on deployment scenario and/or    reliability analysis in the first node 100 of the second node 120    reporting to the first node 100. This may further be performed    searching for the “best” subset by trying different subsets and    selecting the one which maximizes a performance metric.-   302. A message is sent to the second node 120. The message comprises    a configuration request to the second node 120 to restrict the    selection of information alternatives to at least one of the    subsets, which at least one of the subsets may be selected in the    step above. The configuration request may comprise a bit map where    each bit corresponds to a certain information alternative and where    the bit value may indicate whether to include or exclude the    information alternative in the subset.-   303. An information alternative is received from the second node    120. The information alternative is selected among the at least one    subsets configured according to the configuration request. The    information alternative is conveyed from the second node 120 to the    first node 100 by means of a specific signalling format. The    specific format is possible to be reused for receiving an    information alternative selected from at least one other subset. In    some embodiments, the specific signalling format comprises certain    bits that include signalling of the information alternative.

To perform the method steps above, the first node 100 comprises anarrangement 400 depicted in FIG. 4. In some embodiments the first node100 is a base station and in some embodiments the first node 100 is auser equipment.

The first node arrangement 400 comprises a sending unit 410 arranged tosend a message to the second node 120. The message comprises aconfiguration request to the second node 120 to restrict the selectionof information alternatives to at least one of the subsets.

The first node arrangement 400 further comprises a receiving unit 420arranged to receive an information alternative from the second node 120.The information alternative is arranged to be selected by the secondnode 120 among the at least one subsets configured according to theconfiguration request The information alternative is arranged to beconveyed from the second node 120 to the first node 100 by means of aspecific signalling format, which specific format is possible to bereused for receiving an information alternative selected from at leastone other subset.

The method steps in the second node 120 for assisting the first node 100in adapting a signal to be sent from the first node 100 to the secondnode 120 in a wireless communication system 110, according to someembodiments will now be described with reference to a flowchart depictedin FIG. 5. The second node 120 is capable of communicating with thefirst node 100 over a radio link. The second node 120 is configured tocomprise a codebook, which codebook comprises a set of possibleinformation alternatives used for assisting the adaptation of a signalto be sent from the first node 100 to the second node 120 over the radiolink. The second node 120 is arranged to select an informationalternative from the codebook. In some embodiments the codebookcomprises precoder matrices, transmission ranks, modulation choices,transport block sizes, powers and/or channelization codes. In someembodiments the codebook comprises one or several precoders or,comprises one or several precoders and one or several transmission ranksor combinations thereof. The selected information alternative isintended to be sent to the first node 100 to assist the first node 100how to adapt the signal. The first node 100 knows a number of subsets,each subset comprising a part of or the complete codebook. In someembodiments the second node 120 is a user equipment and in someembodiments the first node 100 is a base station. The method comprisesthe steps of:

-   501. The second node 120 receives a message from the first node 100.    The message comprises a configuration request to restrict the    selection of information alternatives to at least one of the    subsets.-   502. The second node 120 configures the selection according to the    received configuration request.-   503. The second node 120 selects an information alternative among    the configured at least one subsets. In some embodiments the    codebook comprises one or several precoders and one or several    transmission ranks, or combinations thereof. In these embodiments    this step may be performed by selecting an element in the subset    that optimizes a performance metric.-   504. The second node 120 sends the selected information alternative    to the first node 100. The information alternative is conveyed from    the second node 120 to the first node 100 by using a specific    signalling format, which specific format is possible to be reused    for sending an information alternative selected from at least one    other subset. In some embodiments the specific signalling format    comprises certain bits that include signalling of the information    alternative.

To perform the method steps above, the second node 120 comprises anarrangement 600 depicted in FIG. 6. In some embodiments the second node120 is a user equipment and in some embodiments the second node 120 is abase station.

The second node arrangement 600 comprises a receiving unit 610 arrangedto receive a message from the first node 100. The message comprises aconfiguration request to restrict the selection of informationalternatives to at least one of the subsets.

The second node arrangement 600 further comprises a configuration unit620 arranged to configure the selection according to the receivedconfiguration request.

The second node arrangement 600 further comprises a selection unit 630arranged to select an information alternative among the configured atleast one subsets.

The second node arrangement 600 further comprises a sending unit 640arranged to send the selected information alternative to the first node100. The information alternative is arranged to be conveyed from thesecond node 120 to the first node 100 by using a specific signallingformat, which specific signalling format is arranged to be reused forsending an information alternative selected from at least one othersubset.

The present mechanism for assisting the first node 100 in adapting asignal to be sent from the first node 100 to the second node 120 may beimplemented through one or more processors, such as a processor 430 inthe first node arrangement 400 depicted in FIG. 4 or the processor 650in the second node arrangement 600 depicted in FIG. 6, together withcomputer program code for performing the functions of the presentsolution. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as acomputer program product, for instance in the form of a data carriercarrying computer program code for performing the present solution whenbeing loaded into the first node 100 or the second node 120. One suchcarrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible withother data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program codecan furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server anddownloaded to first node 100 or second node 120 remotely.

When using the word “comprise” or “comprising” it shall be interpretedas non-limiting, i.e. meaning “consist at least of”.

The present invention is not limited to the above described preferredembodiments. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may beused. Therefore, the above embodiments should not be taken as limitingthe scope of the invention, which is defined by the appending claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method in a first node for adapting asignal to be sent over a radio link from the first node to a second nodein a wireless communication system, wherein the second node isconfigured to use a codebook comprising a set of possible informationalternatives for use by the first node in adapting the signal, saidmethod comprising: sending a message to the second node comprising aconfiguration request to the second node to restrict the selection ofinformation alternatives by the second node to at least one subset ofthe set of possible information alternatives, each subset comprising atleast a part of the codebook; and receiving an information alternativefrom the second node, which information alternative is selected fromamong the at least one subset configured according to the configurationrequest.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the atleast one subset to use for restricting information alternativeselection by the second node.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein saiddetermining is based on at least one of a deployment scenario and areliability analysis, in the first node of the second node reporting tothe first node.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein said determining isperformed by searching for a subset by trying different subsets andselecting the one which maximizes a performance metric.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the configuration request comprises a bit map whereeach bit corresponds to a certain information alternative.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the configuration request comprises a bit map andwherein the value of each bit in the bit map indicates whether toinclude or exclude a corresponding information alternative in the atleast one subset.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving theinformation alternative includes receiving the information alternativeaccording to a specific signalling format that comprises certain bitsthat signal the information alternative.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the codebook comprises one or several precoders, or comprisesone or several precoders and one or several transmission ranks, orcombinations thereof.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the codebookcomprises one or more of precoder matrices, transmission ranks,modulation choices, transport block sizes, powers or channelizationcodes.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node is a basestation.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node is a userequipment.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving theinformation alternative comprises receiving the information according toa specific signalling format suitable for receiving an informationalternative selected from at least one other subset that is of adifferent size than the at least one of the subsets.
 13. A method in asecond node for assisting a first node in the adaptation of a signal tobe sent over a radio link from the first node to the second node in awireless communication system, wherein the second node is configured touse a codebook comprising a set of possible information alternatives foruse by the first node in adapting the signal, said method comprising:receiving a message from the first node, the message comprising aconfiguration request to restrict the selection of informationalternatives by the second node to at least one subset of the set ofpossible information alternatives, wherein each subset comprises atleast a part of the codebook; selecting an information alternative fromamong the at least one subset configured according to the configurationrequest; and sending the selected information alternative to the firstnode.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the codebook comprises one orseveral precoders, comprises one or several precoders and one or severaltransmission ranks, or combinations thereof, and wherein said selectingcomprises selecting an element in the at least one subset that optimizesa performance metric.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the codebookcomprises a precoder, or comprises a precoder and a transmission rank.16. The method of claim 13, wherein the codebook comprises one or moreof precoder matrices, transmission ranks, modulation choices, transportblock sizes, powers or channelization codes.
 17. The method of claim 13,wherein said sending comprises sending the selected informationalternative to the first node using a specific signaling format whereincertain bits signal the information alternative.
 18. The method of claim13, wherein the second node is a user equipment.
 19. The method of claim13, wherein the second node is a base station.
 20. The method of claim13, wherein said sending comprises sending the selected informationalternative to the first node using a specific signaling format suitablefor sending an information alternative selected from at least one othersubset that is of a different size than the at least one of the subsets.21. A first node in a wireless communication system that is configuredto communicate over a radio link with a second node in the wirelesscommunication system, wherein the second node is configured to use acodebook comprising a set of possible information alternatives for useby the first node in adapting a signal to be sent from the first node tothe second node over the radio link, said first node comprising: atransmitter configured to send a message to the second node, the messagecomprising a configuration request to the second node to restrictselection of information alternatives by the second node to at least onesubset of the set of possible information alternatives, each subsetcomprising at least a part of the codebook; and a receiver configured toreceive an information alternative from the second node that wasselected by the second node from among the at least one subset, asconfigured according to the configuration request.
 22. The first node ofclaim 21, wherein the first node is a base station.
 23. The first nodeof claim 21, wherein the first node is a user equipment.
 24. The firstnode of claim 21, wherein the receiver is configured to receive theinformation alternative according to a specific signalling formatsuitable for receiving an information alternative selected from at leastone other subset that is of a different size than the at least one ofthe subsets.
 25. A second node in a wireless communication system, thesecond node configured to communicate with a first node in the wirelesscommunication system over a radio link, and wherein the second node usesa codebook comprising a set of possible information alternatives for useby the first node in adapting a signal to be sent from the first node tothe second node over the radio link, said second node comprising: areceiver configured to receive a message from the first node, themessage comprising a configuration request to restrict the selection ofinformation alternatives to at least one subset of the set of possibleinformation alternatives, each subset comprising at least a part of thecodebook; a processor circuit configured to select an informationalternative from among the at least one subset configured according tothe configuration request; and a transmitter configured to send theselected information alternative to the first node.
 26. The second nodeof claim 25, wherein the second node is a user equipment.
 27. The secondnode of claim 25, wherein the second node is a base station.
 28. Thesecond node of claim 25, wherein the transmitter is configured to sendthe selected information alternative to the first node using a specificsignalling format suitable for sending an information alternativeselected from at least one other subset that is of a different size thanthe at least one of the subsets.